WNBA star Breanna Stewart calls out referees: ‘That’s insane’

May 8, 2026; Brooklyn, New York, USA; New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) reacts during the first half against the Connecticut Sun at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images

The New York Liberty beat the Washington Mystics in overtime on Sunday to improve to 2-0 on the season. While the team was undeniably pleased to get the win and remain undefeated, Liberty star Breanna Stewart was not completely happy with the officiating.

While it makes sense that the game was longer than usual, as it featured 11 lead changes and eight ties while also going to overtime, Stewart felt that the officiating caused the game to stretch on too long with far too many foul calls for her liking.

During her postgame press conference, Stewart took the opportunity to call out the officiating as she pointed out that it was “insane” for a WNBA game to last more than 2 hours and 40 minutes.

“It disrupts everyone’s flow, not just my team, both sides of the game. This game was 2 hours and 41 minutes long. That’s insane,” Stewart told the media after the game. “We said it last game too. I know it’s going to take time figuring out the standard of what’s going to be called, but there are calls being made that are unnecessary on both sides, and then there’s no flow. So, I still don’t know.”

While it might come across as a petty complaint in a win, Stewart does have a point. Last season, officials called an overage of 34.8 fouls per game. While it’s obviously a much smaller sample size, that number is up to 44.06 fouls per game this season. Sunday’s game was far beyond eight of those totals as 58 fouls were called in the contest – nearly double the average total in a game last season.

Clearly, the officials are making a concerted effort to clamp down on the physicality that has been present in the league in recent years. While players and coaches are largely on board with this change, it’s safe to say that the referees may have swung too far in the other direction, because Stewart is not the only one talking about it.